“Did you get your answers, then?” Bobo asked. At Dennis’ request, the pair had abstained from discussion until getting clear of Harding’s office, and although the mirrored elevator was a comfortable place for Dennis to recount his talk with Harding, Bobo had been insistent.
“Not really,” confessed Dennis. “Sam doesn’t seem to know any more about this than I do, or if he does, he can’t talk about it.”
“Why not?”
Dennis shrugged. “Doctor-patient confidentiality, I’d imagine. It sounds like Spinner is more of a nut than anything else, though.”
“Maybe he could do with a different sort of visit to your friend, eh?” Bobo asked. The elevator let out a ding, and the doors slid open to admit the pair into the front lobby. “What did you tell him about me?”
“Nothing,” Dennis answered.
“Nothing?” gawked Bobo. “Come on, now, September, I thought the copper was after me, too.”
“We don’t know that for sure, though, do we?” Dennis replied. The thought made him pause in his footsteps, bringing an odd glance his direction from the building’s concierge. “Actually, that makes a lot more sense,” he thought out loud.
“What does?” asked Bobo. “Why are we stopping?”
Dennis resumed walking as he explained. “I take back what I said in the car. Spinner wasn’t talking about you when he mentioned my ‘buddy,’ he was definitely talking about Sam. I mean, it adds up, doesn’t it?”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Dennis rolled his eyes. “Think about it. If Spinner thinks that I have something to do with his niece, he must have come up with the idea that I’m pulling something similar with Elspeth. If I were him, I’d make the same assumption.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Okay, look,” Dennis said, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he needed to, “Spinner thinks that Sam is doing something to make his niece see ghosts. Then, he sees me at Elspeth’s house, maybe in my September outfit. It doesn’t take a genius to put that together, even if the conclusion is wrong.”
“Well, I mean,” said Bobo, “you are working with the shrink on this spooky business, ain’t you? Doesn’t sound too far off to me.”
“Sure, except that I only just told Sam about Elspeth.” The pair reached Dennis’ car and climbed inside. Bobo’s response was muted by the sound of the engine sputtering to life. “Sorry, what was that?” Dennis asked.
“I said, so what?” Bobo repeated. “All this Spinner bloke sees is you and the shrink working together, right? He doesn’t know that you’re working on your own.” He looked over his shoulder as Dennis pulled out into the street. “Hey, what color is his car, anyway?”
“Blue,” replied Dennis immediately. “Is he following us?” He squinted in the rearview mirror and scanned the vehicles behind them.
“Maybe,” Bobo said, “but I’m sure he’s not the only one with a blue car. See, there goes one.” He pointed at a ridiculously small coupe going in the opposite direction. “What are you going to do if he is?”
“Following me?” asked Dennis. “I don’t know. Sam suggested that I spend some time away from home in a hotel room or something. I don’t like the idea, but I’d rather not get Alena involved in all of this.”
“That’s your wife, then?”
Dennis nodded. “She’s going through a rough time with her business, and I’m sure that having a private detective following her around wouldn’t make things any easier.”
“Yeah, she’d probably get to wondering why you hired him, eh?”
This time Dennis shook his head. “She’d be able to figure out that it had something to do with Sam. I told her about Spinner a few days ago, and that was back before he started following me. Besides, she knows that I trust her.”
“Great, September, but does she trust you?”
“Let’s hope so.”
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